The Captain's Blessing
by Dr. Incrediblastic
Summary: To anyone else, it would seem like a throwaway line, a few breaths gasped out with Carter in mind. To the recipient, though, it was a blessing. Sequel to "Subway." WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN MOVIE!


_AN: First: Thank you guys for the response to "Subway!" This was my first fanfic attempt, and I was thrilled to see such a positive response._

_This isn't strictly the continuation that was asked for, but this plot bunny hit me while I was brainstorming for ideas, and I had to get it out there. This is definitely AU, where Captain Stacy is in charge of Carter and Fusco's precinct. I'll try to work on another one-shot or possibly a multi-chapter fic picking up where Subway left off, but it will probably be awhile; I don't get much free time these days._

**The Captain's Blessing**

Of all the people she had to deceive to help Reese and Finch, Detective Jocelyn Carter hated lying to Captain Stacy. He was an honest cop, a good detective, and a friend, but Carter could never tell him about her work with Reese. He was too by the book and too naïve. He was aware of the fact that there were a few bad apples in the NYPD, but he was totally blind to the extent of HR's operations. It was the only way that a good cop like him could get as far up the chain command as Stacy had—he didn't look the other way when HR acted, he simply didn't see them. Instead, he spent all his time chasing a vigilante in tights.

To a certain extent, Carter could understand Stacy's obsession with catching Spider-Man; the fact that the clown had a "type" suggested that his motives were less than pure, and his consistent interference with police operation made him a nuisance. That being said, Carter personally thought that the nuisance could wait if the NYPD was dying of cancer. There were days when Stacy would charge into the precinct, frustrated to no end by the wall-crawler's antics, and it was all Carter could do not to demand that he spend his time catching _real_ crooks—such as most of the organized crime division.

But if Carter did that, Stacy might demand to know what happened to _her_ vigilante, and although she could lie to anyone else, Carter wasn't sure that she could bear lying to one of the last good cops she knew. She would allow him his blindness and his arachnophobic crusade because he made her feel less alone. It was silly; although she may question Reese's methods, Carter believed him when he assured her she wasn't alone anymore. But no matter how many times Reese saved her, no matter how many crimes they stopped together, there was something Reese could never be: a fellow cop. Although Carter knew she couldn't ask for a more effective ally, she still found herself wishing for a partner who could flash a badge and play in the NYPD softball league. Even if Stacy wasn't really there in her hour of greatest need, he was honest enough that she knew they were on the same side, even if they were fighting two different wars. While that may not be enough to sustain her under fire in the worst neighborhoods of the Bronx, it kept her going during the quiet moments in the office, when she did her paperwork and wondered if there were any other honest cops left in New York.

At least, it kept her going until the night Stacy stormed into the precinct, well after he was supposed to have gone home, muttering under his breath. Carter had worked a case with Reese that day and had to stay late to finish her actual work, so she was there to look up, confused, when Stacy came in.

"You okay, Stace?" she called.

"Not a word, Carter! You're even worse!" Stacy retorted angrily.

"As bad as what?"

"My daughter's boyfriend." Carter had cocked an eyebrow at this.

"How does that work?" Stacy laughed bitterly.

"You really don't think I see it? You've given up on chasing your guy in a suit for months now."

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot, Carter," Stacy growled, his voice absolutely scathing. "You're working with him now. You don't trust anyone in the precinct, so you've turned to a killer for your backup." Carter opened her mouth to deny it. She even knew what she was going to say. _"You think I'm that stupid to trust an ex-assassin to watch my back while I've got FBI and CIA crawling all over the place, looking to capture him?" _(It was such an absurd proposition that it almost caused Carter to re-evaluate her relationship with Reese). But the words wouldn't come. Carter knew why—she couldn't lie to an honest cop. So instead, she only gave him a hard stare.

"Well, trusting a vigilante to protect me from HR is a lot better than chasing a runaway circus act while letting dirty cops make deals with Elias." Stacy threw his hands in the air.

"HR—you act like they're the whole NYPD these days, Carter!"

"They _are_ the whole NYPD these days." The two were now hissing at each other, not daring to shout lest the ears in the walls hear them.

"Oh, really? Then why haven't I run into them?"

"Because you always find some other project that they don't have their fingers in—I don't know how, Stacy, but you do—and you just _avoid seeing them!_ If you would just stop and look around, you'd see it. I'm pretty sure your sergeant is dirty, your top detectives—"

"Those are serious accusations, Carter!"

"Then look into them!"

"I can't—I have a vigilante to catch." Carter narrowed her eyes.

"That's an excuse, Stacy, and you know it."

"So what do you want me to say, Carter?" Stacy suddenly exploded. "That the NYPD is rotting from the inside out? That the man who recruited me, who _mentored me_, is taking a cut from Elias? That my closest confidantes are protecting drug runners? That the boys I went out drinking with last week drink with mafia lords at least as often as they drink we me? And that if I would just take my eyes off Spider-Man for five minutes, I would see all this, see that the NYPD I always dreamed of joining has died, that I _let_ it die under my watch, and that I'm the only one left?" Stacy paused. "Carter, I've seen a lot of things in my time. I've had give a lot of bad news, do a lot of hard things. This, though—I'm sorry, Carter, but I'm not strong enough to take on the whole NYPD alone."

"You don't have to." Stacy snorted.

"Yeah, right. Cuz between you, me, your guy in the suit, and Spider-Man we're unstoppable. Cuz you can always trust a vigilante who hides in the shadows. Let me know how that works for you, Carter. Someday, when you're all alone—let me know how that works."

Carter didn't speak to Stacy again before he died a week later. She didn't go to the funeral. There would have been too many dirty cops hiding their joy that one of the only men in the city who still cared about the law was out of the way, and she wouldn't be able to stand that. Instead, she was working a case with Reese. She had pursued a suspect into a dark alley, but he got away. Frustrated, Carter turned around to go and found herself face to face with a Spider-Man.

"Detective Carter," the vigilante said. Carter quickly drew her weapon and pointed it at the wall-crawler. He quickly raised his hands. "Easy, easy. I have a message for you."

"A message? From who?" Carter demanded.

"Captain Stacy." Carter's heart clenched.

"He's dead."

"I was there when he died. He had something he wanted me to tell you."

"Oh yeah? What?"

"That he was glad you're not alone." Eyes burning, Carter lowered the gun. _He was glad you're not alone._

To anyone else, it would seem like a throwaway line, a few breaths gasped out with Carter in mind. To the recipient, though, it was a blessing. It was a nudge from the last old-school cop Carter knew, telling her that it was alright that she had effectively left the old NYPD, assuring her that her new one—the one run by a mysterious bird with glasses and the man in a suit—would support her in her quest for justice as strongly as her fellow cops should have. Holding back tears, Carter nodded, and hurried out of the alley. There would be time for sentimentality later. Now, she and her partner had a suspect to catch.


End file.
